So, yesterday was it – my 30th birthday, or (since Jake prefers Roman numerals for this), XXX.
I had a great day! Though it actually started Friday, when 10 of my co-workers joined me for one happy hour and then I went to another one with different folks afterwards – I had to turn down the many drinks I was offered so that I could, you know, drive home 
At work, cards and visits from everyone (I managed to escape cake and silly hats because it was the first day of school). My supervisor got me a Harkins gift card, so I’ll probably go see a movie this weekend.
On the downside, obviously facilities management didn’t care it was my birthday yesterday, because the a/c was broken and it was over 85 degrees in our building. Ugh. I was sweating like a pig, but since I had dinner reservations and I wanted to look nice, I was able to duck out early and cool off at my house. (The air’s fixed today, thank goodness.)
Jake and I had dinner at Medizona Lounge, which was very tasty (if not very busy on a Monday night – we were the only people there!). I had a salad with goat cheese, almond brittle, and cactus vinaigrette and then a large chile relleno on corn risotto, and Jake had gazpacho and sea bass. The mixed drinks were also awesome – I had a splendid gin and tonic and he had what he said was the best Long Island Iced Tea ever (sorry, DD, I know you don’t want to hear that right now!).
Then at home he gave me my gifts – I was very impressed at how much he was able to squeeze out of our budget, but he said that shopping in a down economy gives you a lot of bargaining power! Here’s my haul:
- A crockpot (most boyfriends get in trouble for stuff like this, but I’ve become sort of a hobby cook and have been asking for this for months),
- Fresh From the Vegetarian Slow Cooker cookbook (he had to fight a vegan for the last copy in the store),
- Two paperbacks by one of my favorite fantasy writers, Sara Douglass,
- A fancy salt and pepper grinder (because I’ve decided to take up salt collecting – did you know there are dozens and dozens of different flavors of salt?),
- An air popper (so I can make Weight Watchers-friendly popcorn),
- New pillows for our bedroom (this was kind of a joke, because I’ve been complaining about our pillows giving me neck pain and getting kinda old and dirty)
I have no qualms about being in my thirties – I feel like I’m finally as old as I’ve always felt like I was on the inside. I haven’t talked to my dad yet (I meant to call him Sunday but forgot), but I’ve been e-mailing with my sister some and she’s going to send me a “care package.” This is always sort of fun because she leads a very different life than me and tends to get me things that she would enjoy, so it’s a sort of window into her psyche.
I also got tons of “welcome to the 30 club” messages on Facebook – I’m younger than most of my friends so I’m one of the last to turn.
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